John D Rockefeller

John D Rockefeller was born in on this day. His parents were William Avery Rockefeller and Eliza Davidson. He had 5 siblings.

28th Sep, 1855

First Employment

When John was sixteen, he got employed at his first job as an assistant bookkeeper. He worked at a small produce commission firm called, named Hewitt & Tuttle.

30th May, 1859

Went Into Produce Comission

Rockefeller went in the produce commission business with a Maurice B. Clark. They were partners in the business

28th Mar, 1863

First Oil Refinery

The partners, John and Maurice, built an oil refinery in Cleveland in then Cleveland's burgeoning industrial area named, "The Flats",

28th Mar, 1866

Partnership

His brother William built another oil refinery in Cleveland. He then brought John into the partnership. Soon another partner, Henry Flagler, and together joined them.

28th Mar, 1868

Largest Oil Refinery

Rockefeller continued the practices of borrowing and reinvesting profits with controlling their cost and using the refineries' wastes, the company owned two Cleveland refineries as well as a marketing subsidiary in New York. With all of those combined, it became the largest oil refinery in the world.

28th Jun, 1870

Standard Oil

Rockefeller made Standard Oil of Ohio, which became the most profitable refiner in Ohio. Standard Oil grew to become one of the largest shippers of oil and kerosene in the country. Each partner had their own share of the company:
John D. Rockefeller had (30%)
William Rockefeller (13.34%)
Henry Flagler (16.67%)
Samuel Andrews (16.67%)
Stephen Harkness (13.34%)
O. B. Jennings (the brother-in-law of William Rockefeller, 10%).

28th Mar, 1897

Retirement

By 1896, Rockefeller stopped going to his office daily and in 1897 he retired. He was 58 at the time. John Archbold ran Standard Oil, though his policies of rasing prices with the monopoly was looked down upon, and the blame went to Rockefeller.

23rd May, 1937

Death

When Rockefeller died, his estate totaled an estimated $26,410,837. He was 98 years old at the time. Most of his money went to charities, his sons, some philanthropies and other relatives.